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Chemistry

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About The Program

College of Arts and Sciences

Chemistry

Students here are encouraged to explore their individual interests and work closely with professors on research projects. Students may be able to present the results of their research at national or regional meetings - even to publish their works in scientific journals.

As part of NSU's preprofessional programs, the study of chemistry provides excellent preparation for medical, dental, veterinary, or chiropractic school admission. It also prepares students to attend graduate school or work in the chemical industry.

In our program, you'll learn to operate a wide range of modern instruments, including:

• Ultraviolet visible and infrared (UV and IR) spectrophotometers

• Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS)

• High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and

• A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrophotometer

NSU chemistry students pursuing the chemistry major have the option of taking courses in analytical, biochemistry, organic, chemical education, environmental, and physical chemistry or material science.

Chemistry-Forensic Science Specialization

If you're patient, detail-oriented and like to solve crime puzzles, you can specialize in chemistry-forensic science at NSU to prepare for a career as a forensic chemist. Forensic chemists analyze physical evidence and samples for clues to solve crimes.

If you'd like to work with trace evidence, such as glass, hairs, and gunshot residue, focus on instrumentation skills and take courses in geology, soil chemistry, and materials science.

If you prefer forensic biology, such as DNA analysis, take microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry courses.

If you're interested in obtaining and interpreting toxicology reports, you should study physiology, biochemistry, and chemistry.

Forensic chemist: Forensic chemists usually work in labs associated with a federal, state, or local police department, medical examiner's office, forensic services lab, or branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

More career opportunities may be found in other fields of forensic science, education, or administration.

Chemists often work for private, for-profit businesses such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms and the chemical manufacturing industry; others are consultants or independent business owners. The education sector employs chemists, and many work in government.

For more information on careers in your major or help choosing a major, contact NSU Career Services.

Internships

NSU offers extraordinary hands-on opportunities undergraduate research or internships in chemistry. At NSU, students work closely in the lab with professors and equipment in a way not often available in other classrooms and labs. NSU students also have the chance to perform original chemistry research on their own, under faculty mentorship. Many students find that a summer undergraduate research project or internship helps crystallize their career goals.

Dr. Guangwei Ding joined NSU's chemistry department in 2005. He has served on the editorial boards for the Scientific World Journal and the Journal of Experimental Chemistry, and as a reviewer for Geoderma, Chemosphere, and Organic Geochemistry.

Understanding the hysteresis and the sorption mechanisms by observing the conformation changes of NOM, and characterization of mechanism is critical for fate and risk assessment as sorption can be rate-limiting to biodegradation, bioavailability, and subsurface transport of contaminants

Using radioactive material to identify the vertical distribution of soil erosion